THE daughter of an 87-year-old man with terminal cancer says she has been left “astounded” after firefighters paid a special tribute to her father at the Abergavenny care home where he lives.

Sarah Evans had asked South Wales Fire and Rescue Service if they would be able to do something to cheer up her father Michael, who served as a firefighter and station officer in Gloucestershire and Hertfordshire for more than 40 years.

And she was amazed when two fire engines and crews turned up at Mardy Park Care Home, where Mr Bennett has been since the start of March and has been unable to leave due to the coronavirus lockdown, on Tuesday, May 5.

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Mrs Evans, who has been unable to see her father except through a window since the lockdown began, said: “I had been liaising with the officers to drive by the care home or give him a phone call, but on Tuesday the care home rang us and told us dad had worsened a lot.

“I rang the fire service at really short notice and the head of the Abergavenny officers said they would be there that afternoon.

“I was astounded when they turned up, and then when they asked for dad to come out so they could line up beside him. It was so emotional and totally unexpected.”

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Mr Bennett - a former fire station officer - with grandson Harrison, before falling ill

Mrs Evans said that her father, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in November and has now been given just weeks to live, has been particularly low during lockdown.

“While the care home are lovely and do so much for him, he had become really upset with not being able to interact with us properly," she said.

“He turned to me when the firefighters had left and said he wasn’t ready to go yet. It was the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time. We can't thank the fire service enough."